


Exploring cycle 34

by StarishSparkles



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Don't worry, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Friendship, Misogyny, Sparring, he gets what he deserves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:53:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25515319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarishSparkles/pseuds/StarishSparkles
Summary: Lup and Magnus explore a winding market town, eat something they probably shouldn't, and make a misogynistic white man reevaluate his life choices.So, just the usual, huh?
Relationships: Magnus Burnsides & Lup
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Exploring cycle 34

**Author's Note:**

> For the fight, the numbers are my rolls - I played out the scene similarly to a dnd encounter but you don't need to have played to figure it out, it reads fine without the numbers :)

"Hey Mags, over here!"

Magnus jogged over to where Lup was watching an unidentifiable shopkeep in a purple cloak cook some sort of delicious-smelling meat over a magical crackling flame set into a firepit inside a stall. A sign was emblazoned above the stall, reading ' _Surprise delicacies - try free today only_!' and Lup put a hand on her hip with a smirk. "Feeling brave, Burnsides?"

The Starblaster had entered this plane just under a week ago, and after seeing the light fall close by and establishing that civilisation in the form of sprawling market towns seemed to not be aggressive they'd come to the surface and landed on the outskirts of the largest town. They were greeted with representatives of the local lord, who offered them an audience that evening in their home and the offer of visiting the market at their pleasure - one that Magnus and Lup jumped at. After clearing ground rules with cap'nport (no fighting unless in defense, don't make any binding contracts, and for the love of Pan, Lup, don't burn anything down) they joined the bustling townsfolk to explore the local wares.

So far they'd discovered that the currency they had on them was useless, but that there were lots of dogs running around available for petting, much to Magnus' delight. The shopkeep looked up, and noticing the two of them watching he beckoned them closer. "Hello travellers! Care to try a surprise kebab? No two the same, that's the guarantee!"

Lup looked at Magnus, grinned, and stepped forward. "I'll take one for me and one for him," she pointed back to Magnus as she spoke, and he waved awkwardly. The shopkeep's smile widened fractionally as they began to mumble, casting what Lup assumed to be some sort of transmutation spell onto the meat, and although she could see no visible difference the smell changed into something spicier that made her bounce on her heels. "Now that's more like it!"

Once they'd finished, they produced some kind of flatbread from under the firepit where it had assumedly been cooking and deftly made a kebab not dissimilar to the ones on their home plane, blessing it the 'venison spectacular' and handed it to her before starting on a second spell. Magnus had come over by this point, and as Lup held hers to wait for his to be finished they could both see that Magnus' meal appeared to be quite different to that of his crewmate's.

For one, there were two parts - one that appeared to be an elongated cone and the other a rough cylinder. They stared for a moment at the latter before suddenly realising what they were looking at, and Lup let out a sharp laugh as Magnus' jaw dropped. "Is that- Lup, am I about to eat _unicorn dick_?"

Finding no apparent issue with the meal, the shopkeep inserted wooden skewers into both of them and, dubbing it the 'unicorn double-barrel special' much to Lup's delight, handed it to Magnus, who was looking slightly repulsed but accepted them anyway. Business done, they turned away, and the two took that as a hint to eat their food elsewhere.

Lup took her first bite of her kebab and grinned, apparently it tasted as good as it looked and she finished it off pretty quickly before turning to him. Magnus was still eyeing his food suspiciously, one stick in each hand, but as his stomach rumbled (they'd been out a few hours and Magnus had skipped breakfast) he looked at Lup and knew his pride wouldn't allow him to not even try it. "Ah, fuck it. Magnus rushes in I guess." he quickly took a big bite of one, then the other. To his surprise, it was actually… good?

He ate both as they continued to look at the stalls, swearing that he never thought he'd eat _unicorn dick_ , of all things, and that he definitely didn't plan to have it again. Ten minutes and a few interesting stalls later, Lup pointed out that they should've brought the transmutation wizard with them so they could have some actual currency, and Magnus couldn't help but agree. Just as they were about to get out their stones of farspeech they rounded a corner and realised they'd hit the end of the winding streets of the sprawling markets, and had come out right in front of an enclosed training area.

"Oh _hell_ yeah!" Lup immediately ran over, leaving Magnus to follow behind as he called Taako and relayed their location and need for valid currency.

As Lup entered she realised it was even bigger than she'd initially thought, with rows of equipment such as blunt training weapons and the like and open spaces for sparring. The majority of the people using the centre were men of Magnus' build and size, and Lup noticed she'd gained a few strange looks at her entrance - nothing she wasn't used to, but that didn't mean she appreciated it.

She idly picked up a pair of nunchucks - a few cycles back her and Taako were taught the skill and she prided herself on what she'd learnt - and had just raised them when she heard a pointed cough behind her and turned, met with a human man of similar stature and features to Barry (yet remarkably less attractive) who seemed unjustly smug considering she was armed and also stood a foot taller.

"Need some help with those, miss?"

Lup raised an eyebrow. She didn't like his tone, but was willing to humour him for the sake of diplomacy. "I'm pretty competent already, actually, unless the problem is with the equipment? In which case, I appreciate the pointer."She dropped the nunchucks, and grabbed a different pair without breaking eye contact.

Although he seemed taken aback by her bravado, he recovered his stance and sneered - Lup couldn't say she was surprised at how this was turning out. "You'll just hurt yourself trying to use those, you know? That's quite a dangerous piece of equipment."

It was at that moment that Magnus entered the room, still tucking his stone of farspeech into a pocket as he stepped inside. He caught sight of Lup and could immediately tell that she was aggravated, so he headed over to try and at best stop the conflict and at worst offer a hand. He only caught the end of Lup's sentence, "-anyone in here," and was a little surprised when the man opposite his friend saw him and smirked at his approach.

"If you're willing to back up your claims, miss, then how about this guy?" - and he turned to face Magnus and addressed him. "Fancy an easy fight? This _woman_ thinks she could take any of us here with nunchucks she's probably never used in her life." Magnus was sorely tempted to deck this asshole where he stood, but was distracted by the mischievous way Lup's eyes lit up at his proposition.

To his surprise she stepped away from him and towards a large area with a marked edge in chalk - a sparring ring. She spread her arms, wider than her grin but not my much, and motioned for him to join her in the ring, clearly goading as she shed her fitted red coat (he silently thanked himself for leaving his at the ship) - with the nunchucks loosely in her hand, she really looked like she didn't know how to kill a man in thirty different ways with them and suddenly Magnus realised what Lup had planned.

He let his grin broaden as he nodded, the asshole looking smug as he squared his shoulders and stepped into the ring. "Are you sure you want to take me on? I'm easily," and he cast a cursory glance around at the few people who seemed interested by the situation and had come to watch, "-the biggest guy here." In a tiny movement that was obvious to Magnus but imperceptible to any onlooker, Lup straightened up as to clearer show her actions to the increasing crowd and began to spin the nunchucks between her hands deftly - a trick Magnus had watched her perfect over many months of repetition and was quietly impressed that she could still perform it with such accuracy.

He let her finish the move before charging her (7), knowing that for this fight to be convincing he wouldn't hold back - and neither would she.

He didn't manage to grab her and instead she danced nimbly to one side, and Magnus let his momentum pull him into a roll so he could straighten up and pivot around, this time raising his fists to his face and bouncing slightly on his heels. She swung the nunchucks at his head (9), but he easily ducked and swung his leg out to trip her (10) and she stumbled, raising 'oohs' from the gathered crowd.

She recovered easily however, and as he was still ducked down she tried to boot him in the chest and topple him over (4) but he steadied his stance before the impact and was only pushed back a little. He stood up easily as she backed off to swing the nunchucks in front of her in a mock shield - he let himself laugh audibly at the move as he raised his fist (13) and tried to punch her in the face, but she jerked away at the last second and wrapped the nunchucks easily around his wrist, pulling hard (L11 vs M13).

He had no problem grabbing the chain and yanked the weapon out of her hand completely. She darted away and raised her fists, and Magnus felt a wave of pride wash over him at her perfect stance - the one he'd taught her - and quickly dropped the nunchucks with a little unnecessary bluster by playing to the crowd. He knew he'd probably hit himself in the face with them if he tried to use them, and while the two circled each other their eyes met and they both grinned as they stepped forward.

They collided as Magnus tried to wrap his arms around her to restrain her (19) and managed to get a solid hold, she struggled fruitlessly for a few seconds before she kicked him in the kneecap (19) causing him to drop her and instinctively cover his knee, gritting his teeth in an attempt to avoid pouting at the dirty move. While he was distracted Lup grabbed the discarded nunchucks and tried to duck behind him (4) but he spotted her and tried to bodyslam her as she passed (10), effectively defending his back but not not knocking her to the ground.

In the moment that she had her head bowed, Magnus heard Lup's voice next to his ear and managed to not jump, nodding slightly in response to her Message spell when she looked up and she smirked. She began addressing the crowd without taking her eyes off of him, and he squared his shoulders and readjusted his feet in anticipation as she spoke.

"I think it's time this fight ended, don't you?" Magnus offered a half-smile in return and she spread her arms, magic crackling in the suddenly still air as her hands lit up in roaring flames, clearly meant to intimidate (17). Magnus could admire Lup's flair for the dramatic, and as the heat from the crackling fire hit him he suddenly realised that although he could take this hit it was going to really, really hurt.

He silently thought that those in the crowd who let out alarmed gasps and stepped back away from the powerful wizard had the right idea, but kept up his bravado and stood up straight to maximise his presence, taking a deep breath before moving once again.

In clear view of the onlookers, Magnus charged forward with fists raised, as he, towering over his opponent with a black eye and bruised knuckles, was blasted halfway across the room by a powerful shockwave of electricity and flame (16) and landed with a thump against a punching bag before hitting the ground.

He knew that he could technically get up and keep fighting as the blast had been aimed at his feet and therefore hadn't actually hit him and instead the force had blown him away, but he knew that right now, with flaming hand outstretched and smoldering opponent on the floor Lup looked like the coolest motherfucker on the planet, and he wasn't going to take that away from her. So he stayed down, relieved, with a pained groan that he'd swear was part of the act when the story was told later.

In the stunned silence of the room, a familiar voice rang out in incredulous tones. "What, and I cannot stress this part enough, the _fuck_ , Lulu."

**Author's Note:**

> I may add more chapters in the future, but don't quote me on that


End file.
